Networked rendering devices can interact with an assemblage of other rendering devices, devices, client devices, servers, and other components that are connected to and communicate over a network. One example of a rendering device is a MFD (Multi-Function Device), which includes the functionality of multiple rendering devices such as printers, scanners, faxes, copy machines, and so forth. Each MFD in a network, for example, can include a variety of print capabilities options such as finishing, media quality, supply levels and size.
Organizations such as, for example, business enterprises, educational, government, and medical institutions often experience large expenditures relating to the rendering of paper documents and difficulty in controlling the flow of information by the rendered documents. The cost associated with the rendering devices can be significantly high, especially for color printing, and it may therefore be extremely beneficial to track the usage of the rendering device resource so that the cost associated therewith may be determined for accounting purpose.
The output volume of the networked rendering devices must be monitored and managed in order to optimize the rendering device allocation to reduce output costs, streamline report creation, lower paper wastage, and to ensure cost effective print governance. Conventionally, rules to control printing and to meet the cost savings with respect to each user are determined manually. Such prior art approaches however lack the ability to prove the financial impact of the print governance with respect to the rendering behavior.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved method and system for automatically creating and recommending a set of optimal rules based on a desired print criterion, as will be described in greater detail herein.